Assistant Professor
Biomedical and Chemical Engineering
Bowne 318, Room 303G
caaponte@syr.edu
Institute affiliation – BioInspired Institute
Areas of Expertise:
- Soft materials
- Polymer physics
- Colloidal physics
- Rheology
My research expertise utilizes theory, simulations and experiments to develop a microscopic understanding of complex soft materials. Our goal is to use this knowledge to develop materials with novel mechanical properties, understand disease pathology, and develop materials for energy applications.
Honors and Awards:
- Featured in Nanoscale’s 2025 Emerging Investigators series
- Bouchet Graduate Honor Society, Spring 2018
- The Ephrahim Garcia Graduate Student Excellence in Mentoring Award, Cornell University (Fall 2017)
- NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, Spring 2013
Selected Publications:
· Aponte-Rivera, C.*, Wijesekera, A., Ge, T.* (2025). Nanoparticle Induced Hydrodynamic Flows in Unentangled Polymer Melts. DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.5c00743
· Aponte-Rivera, C.* (2025). Start-up flow of nanoscale particles and their periodic arrays: insights from fundamental solutions of the unsteady Stokes equations. Nanoscale 17, 12727–12737 (link) (Featured in the Nanoscale 2025 Emerging Investigator series)